IV. The Early Modern Period, 1500–1800 > B. Early Modern Europe, 1479–1815 > 1. Europe, 1479–1675 > b. England, Scotland, and Ireland > 1555
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  The Encyclopedia of World History.  2001.
 
 
1555
 
Return to Catholicism and persecution of the Protestants (Bonner, bishop of London). Oct. 16, Ridley and Latimer; March 21, 1556, Cranmer burned at the stake. About 300 are said to have been burned during this persecution. Cardinal Pole, archbishop of Canterbury and papal legate (1556).  1
 
1557
 
England drawn into the Spanish war with France. Defeat of the French at the battle of St. Quentin (Aug. 10, 1557).  2
 
1558, Jan. 7
 
Loss of Calais, which was captured by the duke of Guise.  3
 
1558–1603
 
ELIZABETH I, brought up a Protestant. Sir William Cecil (Baron Burleigh, 1571) secretary of state. Sir Nicholas Bacon lord privy seal. Repeal of the Catholic legislation of Mary; reenactment of the laws of Henry VIII relating to the Church; act of Supremacy, act of Uniformity. Revision of the prayer book.  4
 
1559, April 3
 
Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis with France. Calais to be ceded to England in eight years.  5
On the accession of Francis II, king of France, Mary Stuart, his wife, assumed the title Queen of England and Scotland. Conformity exacted in Scotland. Adoption of a Confession of Faith by the Scotch estates. Mary returned to Scotland (1561) after Francis II died and was at once involved in conflict with the Calvinists (John Knox).  6
 
1563
 
Adoption of the Thirty-Nine Articles. Completion of the establishment of the Anglican church (Church of England, Episcopal church). A compromise church, largely Protestant in dogma (though many of the thirty-nine articles are ambiguous), but with a hierarchical organization similar to the Catholic and a liturgy reminiscent of the Roman Catholic. Numerous dissenters or nonconformists: Puritans—even then a broad, inexact term, covering various groups that wished to “purify” the Church; to substitute a simple early-Christian ritual for the existing ritual, to make the Church more “Protestant”; Separatists, Puritans who left the Anglican church entirely to organize their own churches; Presbyterians, Puritans who sought to substitute organization by presbyters and synods for organization by bishops within the Anglican church: Brownists, extreme leftist Puritans religiously, the nucleus of the later Independents or Congregationalists; Brownists and Catholics alone of the Elizabethan religious groups could not be brought under the queen's policy of toleration within the Anglican church. Elizabeth therefore did not “tolerate” and did “persecute” Catholics, Brownists, and, of course, Unitarians (who denied the doctrine of the Trinity).  7
 
1564
 
Peace of Troyes with France. English claims to Calais renounced for 222,000 crowns.  8
In Scotland Mary married her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, who caused her favorite, David Rizzio, to be murdered (1566) and was himself murdered (Feb. 10, 1567) by Earl Bothwell. The exact part played by Mary in these intrigues is still debated by historians. Marriage of Mary and Bothwell (May 15, 1567). The nobles under Earl Moray, Mary's natural brother, revolted, defeated Mary at Carbury Hill, near Edinburgh, and imprisoned her at Lochleven Castle. Abdication of Mary in favor of her son, by Darnley, James VI (July 24, 1567). Moray (Murray), regent. In May 1568 Mary escaped from captivity; defeated at Langside on May 13, she took refuge in England, where, after some delay, she was placed in confinement (1568).  9
 
1577
 
Alliance of Elizabeth and the Netherlands.  10
 
1583–84
 
Plots against the queen; execution of the earl of Arundel for corresponding with Mary.  11
 
1585
 
Troops sent to the aid of the Dutch Republic under the earl of Leicester. Victory of Zutphen (Sept. 22, 1586).  12
 
1586
 
Expedition of Sir Francis Drake to the West Indies, sack of Santo Domingo and Cartagena; rescue of the Virginia colony.  13
 
1586
 
Conspiracy of Savage, Ballard, Babington, and others, discovered by the secretary of state, Sir Francis Walsingham; execution of the conspirators. The government involved Mary, queen of Scots, in the plot. She was tried at Fotheringay Castle (Oct.) and convicted on the presentation of letters that she alleged to be forged. She was convicted on Oct. 25 and executed on Feb. 8, 1587.  14
 
 
 
The Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth edition. Peter N. Stearns, general editor. Copyright © 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Maps by Mary Reilly, copyright © 2001 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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